When contemplating the 2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo, the one query is the way you need your V-8: Pure or supplemented?

There are 3 ways to get the brand new Porsche twin-turbo 4.0 V-8 within the overhauled 2024 Cayenne: The Cayenne S eases within the V-8 at 468 hp and 442-lb ft of torque; the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid’s V-8 is tuned to 591 hp and 590 lb-ft; and the Turbo GT’s V-8 makes 650 hp and 626 lb-ft. By my rely, that’s probably the most V-8s supplied on a single non-truck mannequin for 2024. 

Such an array can’t final. 

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

How Porsche modified the V-8 within the 2024 Cayenne

Porsche closely revised the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 with this main refresh of the third-gen Cayenne to extend energy and cut back emissions. However the V-8 within the range-topping Turbo GT gained’t be supplemented with electrical energy and due to this fact gained’t be bought in Europe and most Asian markets. 

The modifications to the V-8 are, ahem, manifold. Dr. Christoph Oerleke, product supervisor of the Cayenne, defined to Motor Authority that the modifications embody greater direct injection stress that optimizes combustion to not depart residual gasoline on the cylinder partitions, and variable valve raise that joins variable valve timing to enhance effectivity within the thermal course of. Primarily, the revised V-8 squeezes extra vitality out of every drop of gasoline. The brand new digital wastegates within the turbos are way more responsive so the V-8 spews much less emissions. 

The improved engine administration enabled Porsche to swap out twin-scroll turbos (besides within the GT) for extra compact single-scroll turbochargers with higher efficiency when the engine nears its 6,800 rpm rev restrict. 

There’s no extra cylinder deactivation for the Cayenne Turbo V-8 as properly. The 2024 Cayenne Turbo-E depends on extra electrical energy from a bigger 25.9-kwh battery pack (up from 17.9 kwh) and stronger 130-kw electrical drive unit (from 100 kw). The one time the Turbo E-Hybrid depends on the twin-turbo V-8 alone is at speeds above 84 mph. 

After I requested how typically persons are driving that quick, Dr. Oerleke was fast to answer, “In Germany they do.” 

His smile steered the Germans flirt with the Turbo E’s high velocity of 183 mph, too.

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

Monitoring the 2024 Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid  

On a racetrack outdoors Barcelona, I attempted my finest to behave like a German. 

The Parcmotor de Castelloli circuit rises out of the spiny shadow of Montserrat Mountain Nationwide Park. The monitor was reduce out of an previous quarry in a hillside, like a modest Sonoma Raceway with much less dramatic grade modifications. It’s narrower, however as an alternative of all of the blind bends and tight hairpins of Sonoma, this monitor stretches out longer with 5 straights, the higher to showcase the Cayenne Turbo E’s strengths. 

I tracked a Turbo E-Hybrid that Porsche geared up with $46,000 value of extras to approximate the Turbo E-Hybrid GT Pack bought in Europe and different markets forsaken by the Turbo GT. Upgrades included rear-wheel steering, lively anti-roll bars (Porsche calls them Dynamic Chassis Management), 22-inch staggered wheels (10.5 inches up entrance, 11.5 in again) with low profile P Zero Corsa tires (285/40 entrance, 315/35 rear), and maybe most significantly, carbon-ceramic brakes. A notice about these Porsche ceramic composite brakes (PCCBs): they value almost $10,000 further on the Turbo E however provide is constrained. 

Bought solely within the sleeker, extra enticing Coupe physique fashion, the Turbo GT weighs almost 700 kilos lower than the Turbo E-Hybrid Coupe’s cumbersome 5,719-pound curb weight. That is one cause the Turbo GT burns to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds. 

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

The Turbo E-Hybrid hits 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, however it makes up for it within the subsequent leg with a quarter-mile time of 11.7 seconds, simply one-tenth off the Turbo GT. That’s as a result of the battery and motor combo mix for a further 174-hp and 339 lb-ft to a complete system output of 729 hp and 700 lb-ft, making the Turbo E-Hybrid probably the most highly effective Cayenne ever. 

In Sport+ mode with the traction management dialed down and the air suspension pumped agency, the Cayenne Turbo E shrugged off its weight within the lengthy straights. A few of that V-8 engine sound might need been amplified, however it was no much less visceral. It wailed. I may have used paddle shifters to take management of the 8-speed automated transmission sourced from ZF, however like different Porsche transmissions, it was telepathic and I had my palms full specializing in the monitor.   

The ample high-end energy helped me catch as much as the 911 Turbos setting the tempo on the straights, however elsewhere the Turbo E may have benefitted from a greater driver. Braking exhausting earlier than a flip, all the additional weight within the Turbo E-Hybrid didn’t upset the steadiness, thanks partly to a brand new two-chamber air suspension that replaces the previous three-chamber setup. As an alternative of 1 valve controlling the damping, the brand new system makes use of two valves to individually management compression and rebound. Porsche says that the rebound stroke stays almost the identical, however the compression facet has a lot higher management.

In observe, the entrance finish didn’t dip and throw the load ahead to pitch the cumbersome SUV off line. The carbon-ceramic brakes clap 10-piston entrance calipers on huge 17.3-inch entrance rotors (4-piston, 16.1-inch rears) and two hours of working the identical 4 Cayennes with solely brief changeover breaks in between resulted in no points. The difficulty may be endurance; in the event you order a Turbo E-Hybrid with the PCCBs now, it may be delayed a month or two resulting from provide points, Porsche four-door rep Calvin Kim advised me.  

The Turbo E’s further weight and total heft was extra current on the lengthy esses, the place even the lively anti-roll bars couldn’t offset physics. The tester had almost all the GT’s upgrades inside an inch: the Turbo GT has a lowered journey top and a floor clearance that measures 6.8 inches in comparison with 7.8 inches on different variants. It’s certainly the higher monitor Cayenne, however for on a regular basis efficiency and a Porsche sort of practicality, the Turbo E hits the candy spot.  

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid on a regular basis driving

Away from the whirlwind of the monitor, within the roads looping round and underneath Montserrat—like California’s Angeles Crest Freeway besides with higher views, tighter turns, and much much less site visitors—the modifications to the 2024 Cayenne Turbo E turned extra obvious and higher appreciated. Porsche claims this refresh is probably the most important single change ever within the 22 years of the Cayenne, and the steadiness between efficiency and practicality in on a regular basis driving proved it.  

Porsche encourages using the bigger battery pack and its motor, sandwiched between the V-8 and the 8-speed, on each begin up. It defaults to E-Energy, the electrical mode of 5 selectable modes. 

2024 Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid

Electrical energy within the 2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

Even with the default EV mode, Porsche understates the presence of the electrified powertrain. There’s an influence supply gauge within the new 12.6-inch digital instrument cluster that replaces an analog unit, and the motive force can improve it or reduce it with the seven totally different show choices. A graphic within the 12.3-inch touchscreen reveals engine and motor energy splits, however principally all of the advanced machinations occur with out the motive force noticing, until in search of it out. 

There’s no regenerative brake setting, however it’s at all times there as quickly as you raise off the throttle. It’s smoother than the prior era however not seamless. It labored just like the system within the Porsche Taycan electrical sedan: as quickly as I touched the precise brake, there was extra seize because it transitioned from motor to friction braking. 

One of many extra fascinating readouts within the multitude of latest information is an E-Journey meter. On one loop masking 39.9 miles, 11.7 miles had been accomplished in electrical energy solely at a fee of 32.3 kwh per 100 km. That’s about 1.9 miles per kwh. By way of effectivity, that’s not so good. However I wasn’t driving it for effectivity and it’s extra environment friendly than utilizing a fuel engine. 

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

Logging that many miles with out burning gasoline felt like a bonus. It additionally confirmed that I nonetheless had 16.7 miles left of vary. 

There’s no sense estimating a complete vary from these numbers, as there was a number of uphill-downhill journey on that route. Nevertheless it reveals the regen was doing its job, and a spread of at the least 25 miles appears affordable and really welcome in comparison with the 15 miles of vary on its predecessor. 

I anticipate most drivers to change the steering wheel management dial to Hybrid mode. There generally is a slight hiccup when going from clean crusing in electrical energy to hammering the throttle to have interaction the engine, however clean inputs lead to clean transitions of energy. 

Then there are Sport and Sport+ modes that ratchet up the chassis firmness and shift extra torque to the rear wheels. Usually, about 60% of the torque goes to the rear wheels, however the system can ship greater than 50% ahead relying on tire grip. For the hairpins and twisties round Montserrat, I principally stored it in Sport mode. It was a blast, and the rear-wheel steering together with the massive wheels and efficiency tires helped chunk into the narrowest turns and shortly right when a tour bus overwhelmed each lanes in a blind flip. 

The brand new management format strikes the suspension settings into the touchscreen, and the brand new interface permits for personalization of drive modes, chassis response, journey heights, and the game exhaust system. I principally let the drive modes on the steering dial deal with themselves and relished the chic steering really feel. It appears like a sports activities automobile within the palms, but with the luxurious appointments and cabin area of a crossover SUV, even in Coupe type. 

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid

As a navigator, I even used the ten.9-inch passenger touchscreen to help in instructions and trying to find different information. At one level, the navigation map was on all three screens: the cluster, middle touchscreen, and passenger interface. It might need been overkill, however luxurious is all about choices. 

What was most luxurious was the quiet cabin and serene journey high quality on the freeway. It made the Cayenne Turbo E really feel as very like a touring automobile as a efficiency machine.  

The screens assist Porsche simplify all of the buttons, however the haptic local weather management panel on the middle console may use yet one more refinement: push the heated seat button, for instance, and the entire panel flexes. 

The 2024 Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid presents a extra sensible and sustainable method to efficiency than the Cayenne Turbo GT mannequin. At $151,400, the brand new Turbo E-Hybrid Coupe prices $46,900 lower than the Turbo GT, or 30% much less. It could not match up on the monitor however you wouldn’t realize it until there have been back-to-back laps. Off the monitor, it’s superior to the Turbo GT, whose days seem numbered, particularly when Porsche launches the fourth-generation Cayenne in battery electrical type for 2026.

“It at all times will depend on laws,” Dr. Oerleke mentioned about the way forward for the Porsche V-8. “So long as we’re allowed to homologate a V-8 engine we are going to do that, as a result of the shoppers like this.”

Certainly. 

Porsche supplied airfare and lodging for Motor Authority to current this firsthand report.